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REVIEW 



HISTORY OF GREECE 



DEATH OF ALEXANDER 




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PRIVATELY PRINTED. 

1877. 






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Copyright— W. R. Dimmock— 1877. 



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NOTE. 

rpHIS very brief sketch of the History of Greece, 
is simply an abridgment, for the most part, of 
ordinary text books, particularly of Heeren's, Smith's, 
and Purnell's Histories of Greece. No attempt 
has been made to change the language of the books 
used, when it seemed suited to this purpose. Some 
of the earlier dates will be found to differ from those 
given by some of the school books. This is privately 
printed, not published, and it is intended merely as 
a convenience for the writer's pupils in reviewing the 
subject. 



HISTORY OF GREECE TO THE DEATH 
OF ALEXANDER. 



Supposed date of Trojan war, 1194. 

Lycurgus gave Sparta its constitution about 
the beginning of the eighth century B. C. (The 
earliest authentic date in Greek history is 776, the 
First Olympiad.) Some of its elements were not- 
original with him. The following were its pro- 
visions : — 

1. Spartan citizens were the ruling body. The 
Lacedaemonians, or inhabitants of the country, 
were subjects who paid tribute and rendered mili- 
tary service. 

2. Two kings, from two leading families, were 
leaders in war and first magistrates in peace. 

3. The Senate consisted of twenty-eight members, 
chosen by the people for life, to constitute the 
Kings' counsel in public affairs. 

4. Five ephors, to whom everything was finally 
referred, formed the highest tribunal of the State. 

5. The popular assemblies were confined to 
Spartans, their power being to approve or reject 
the measures proposed to them by the Kings and 
Senate'. 



6 History of Greece to the 

6. The laws aimed to make the Spartans a 
society of citizens, equal, so far as possible, with 
respect to their property and mode of life, and 
each convinced that he was the property of his 
country, to which he was bound to ■ yield entire 
obedience. 

Soon after the time of Lycurgus, the war of the 
Spartans against their neighbors, the Argives, 
Arcadians, but more particularly the Messenians, 
began. 

First Messenian War, 742-722, was terminated 
by the capture of Ithome, and the voluntary death 
of the Messenian King, Aristodemus. The Messe- 
nians became tributary to the Spartans, and were 
obliged to give up one-half of the revenues of their 
lands. 

Second Messenian War, 682-668. The Messe- 
nians were under Aristomenes, and the Spartans 
under Tyrtreus. The Messenian territory was 
divided among the Spartan conquerors, and the 
inhabitants became agricultural slaves. 

The legislation of Solon at Athens was about 
594. He had been chosen Archon, and commis- 
sioned to remodel the constitution. The provisions 
presented by him were : — 

1st. The organization of the people according to 
their property, into four classes. None but citizens 
of the first three classes could fill all the offices 
of State, but all were admitted to the popular 
assemblies, and all served in the courts. 

2d. Nine Archons were chosen annually as su- 
preme magistrates. 



Death of Alexander. 7 

3d. A Council, or Senate, of four hundred 
persons, was chosen by lot annually from the first 
three classes. The Archons were obliged to consult 
the Council. Nothing could be carried down to 
the popular assembly until it had been debated in 
Council. 

4th. To the whole people in Assembly were 
reserved the rights of confirming the laws, of elect- 
ing the magistrates, of debating all public affairs 
referred to them by the Council, and of the public 
administration of justice. 

5th. The Court of the Areopagus was composed 
of retired Archons, and remained the supreme 
tribunal in capital cases, and was charged with the 
superintendence of morals, with the censorship 
upon the conduct of the Archons who went out of 
office, and had the prerogative of amending or 
rescinding the measures that had been approved by 
the popular assembly. 

The Tyranny of Peisistratus, (a cousin of Solon, 
and leader of the political faction of the mountains, 
consisting of the inhabitants of the hilly districts in 
the north and east of Attica,) and his son, began in 
560 and ended in 510. Peisistratus was twice ex- 
pelled. His sons, Hippias and Hipparchus, ruled 
together from the death of Peisistratus in 527 to 
514, when Hipparchus was murdered by Harmodius 
and Aristogiton. Hippias was deposed in 510, and 
sailed to Asia, and after some years went to the 
court of Darius, King of Persia. 

Cleisthenes, to whom Athens chiefly owed her 
liberation, introduced important reforms into the 



8 History of Greece to the 

constitution. He redistributed the population of 
Attica into ten new tribes, enrolling in them all the 
free inhabitants of Attica; he divided the tribes 
into a certain number of demes, or townships ; he 
enlarged the number of the Senate to five hundred, 
fifty selected from each tribe ; he transferred the 
government of the State, previously in the hands 
of the Archons, to the Senate and Ecclesia, which 
was now summoned at fixed periods ; he increased 
the judicial as well as political power of the 
people ; he introduced Ostracism, by which, by the 
vote of six thousand citizens, a man might be 
banished for ten years without special accusation 
or trial. The term was reduced afterwards to five 
years. The object of this was to remove from 
the State a party leader, before he could carry into 
execution any scheme of violence or revolution. 

These reforms of Cleisthenes gave such power to 
the citizens and awoke in them such a personal 
interest in the welfare of the State, that they may 
be considered as the real beginning of the Athen- 
ian democracy, and they produced the highest 
results in the patriotism of the people. 

The Grecian colonies in Asia Minor had been 
captured by the generals of Cyrus the Great. In 
500 the Asiatic Greeks revolted, were assisted by 
the Athenians, and Sardes (in centre of Lydia) was 
burned. The Ionian colonies led in this rebellion. 
It was crushed, and Miletus, their capital, was 
destroyed. Darius, the King of Persia, undertook 
to punish the Athenians. The first campaign 
against Greece under Mardonius, was broken up 



Death of Alexander. 9 

by a tempest off Mount Athos, (southern point 
of peninsula of Acte, in Macedonia,) 492. 

A second expedition was led by Datis and Arta- 
phernes, under the guidance of Hippias. The 
Persians were defeated by ten thousand Athenians 
and one thousand Platseans at Marathon, (in the 
eastern part of Attica, between Mount Pentelicus 
and the sea,) in September, 490. The Athenian 
commander was Miltiades. 

Miltiades then persuaded the Athenians to 
furnish him with a fleet, -with which he went 
upon an unsuccessful expedition against the Greek 
Islands, more particularly Paros, (one of the Cy- 
clades.) For this he was brought to trial, heavily 
fined, and died in prison. Themistocles and Aris- 
tides then became the most prominent men at 
Athens. 

Xerxes, King of Persia, led a third expedition 
against Greece. Under the inspiration of The- 
mistocles, Athens succeeded in uniting the other 
Grecian States in alliance against the Persians, the 
honor of the command being left to Sparta. Le- 
onidas, with three hundred Spartans and seven 
hundred Thespians, resisted, till death, at Thermo- 
pylae, (a narrow pass of Mount Oeta, on Sinus 
Maliacus,) July, 480. About the same time there 
was an engagement between the Persian and Greek 
fleets off Artemisium, (Northeast promontory) in 
Euboea. The fleet of the Persians had been over- 
taken by a sudden hurricane, and met with the 
destruction of many vessels. In the engagement 
the Persians lost a greater number of ships and 



10 History of Greece to the 

men than did the Greeks, but still so far out- 
numbered them, that the latter retreated. Athens 
was deserted by its inhabitants, and taken and 
burned by the Persians. A great naval engage- 
ment off Salamis, (a large island in - Saronicns 
Sinus, west of Athens,) was fought in September, 
480, and resulted in a great victory for the Greeks. 
Xerxes, leaving Mardonius with a force of three 
hundred thousand men in Thessaly, retreated to 
Asia. 

In the spring of 479 Mardonius marched against 
Athens and occupied it, the Athenians removing 
again to Salamis. The Spartans, led by Pausanias, 
marched against the Persians, and Mardonius 
abandoned Attica and crossed into Boeotia. Here, 
near Plataea, (in South-western part,) a decisive 
battle was fought, and the Persians were defeated 
with immense loss, including their general, Mar- 
donius, by the Lacedaemonians under Pausanias. 
On the same day, September 25, 479, the Persians 
were defeated at Mycale, (a promontory of Asia 
Minor, near Miletus,) by the Greeks under the 
Spartan admiral Leotychides, and their fleet was 
burned. 

Athens was rebuilt and fortified by Themistocles, 
and the harbor of the Piraeus was formed. A 
naval expedition was sent under Pausanias, against 
Cyprus and Byzantium, (modern Constantinople,) 
but, in consequence of his pride and haughtiness, 
the supreme command of the Greek forces was con- 
ferred upon the Athenians, with Aristides as ad- 
miral of the combined fleet, and the Confederacy 



Death of Alexander. 11 

of Delos, (centre of the Cyclades,) was formed, 
(477,) comprising most of the Grecian States out- 
side of the Peloponnesus, especially the Islands ; 
deputies from the different States meeting periodi- 
cally for deliberation in the temple of Apollo and 
Artemis in Delos. Each State was assessed in a 
contribution of money or ships, and the superin- 
tendence of the treasury was intrusted to Athens. 
Cimon, son of Miltiades, after the banishment of 
Themistocles and death of Aristidcs, became the 
leader at Athens, and he continued the war against 
the Persians, gained a victory by land and sea 
near the Eurymedon (in Pamphylia, ) and took 
possession of the Hellespontine Chersonesus. Some 
of the confederates endeavored to secede, and 
Naxos, (one of the Cyclades east of Paros,) was 
invested by the confederate fleet, reduced, and 
made tributary to Athens. Tliasos, (in the north 
of the Aegean, south of Thrace,) was captured, 
its fortifications destroyed, and it was compelled 
to pay tribute. A great earthquake at Sparta gave 
rise to a revolt of the Helots, sometimes called the 
Third Messenian War, (464,) which lasted ten 
years. The Spartans asked the assistance of the 
Athenians, which they gave at the instigation of 
Cimon, but as Cimon did not succeed in dislodg- 
ing the Helots from Ithome, (near the centre of 
Messenia,) where they had fortified themselves, 
the Athenians were dismissed by the Spartans ; 
and the democratic party at Athens, who had from 
the beginning opposed the expedition led by 
Pericles, seized the opportunity of casting the 



12 History of Greece to the 

blame for this insult upon Cimon, and he was 
banished. 

Pericles now (461) came to- the head of affairs 
and remained in authority for forty years. 

The Spartans instigated Corinth and Epidaurus 
to make war against Athens. The Athenians, at 
first defeated near Haliae, were later successful, 
attacked Aegina (in the Sinus Saronicus between 
Attica and Argolis) and subdued it. War broke 
out between Athens on one side and Sparta and 
Boeotia on the other. In the first battle of Tana- 
gra, (southern part of Boeotia on the Aesopus,) 
(457) the Spartans were victorious, but the next 
year at the same place were defeated. 

Cimon was recalled from exile and endeavored 
to restore union in Greece, and to renew the war 
against the Persians. The Third Messenian War 
ended in favor of Sparta in 455. Athens continued 
to war against Sparta and her allies. Cimon 
effected a truce for five years, and the consequence 
was an expedition against the Persians, in which 
they were defeated, and then ensued a peace with 
Persia. 

The Peloponnesian War began in 431, and lasted 
for twenty-seven years. 

This had been preceded by what is called the 
Thirty Years' Truce, between Athens and Sparta, by 
which Athens abandoned all the acquisitions which 
she had made in the Peloponnesus, and left Megaris 
to be reckoned among Spartan allies. During this 
time Pericles was at the head of affairs in Athens, 
and the State reached the height of intellectual and 



Death of Alexander. 18 

artistic refinement. During his administration 
many colonies were sent out from Athens. The 
sway of Athens over her allies gave rise to great 
dissatisfaction. Her power was regarded with 
great jealousy by her rivals, and finally the Lace- 
daemonians summoned a meeting of the Peloponne- 
sian confederacy. Many grievances were alleged, 
and finally the congress decided upon war. But 
before this was actually declared, hostilities began 
by an attack of the Thebans upon Plataea. 

The principal allies of Sparta were the whole of 
the Peloponnesus except Argos and Achaia, Me- 
gara, Boeotia and Phocis : of Athens, Thessaly, 
Acarnania, Plataea, Chios, Lesbos, Corcyra, Zacyn- 
thos, and her tributary towns on the coasts of 
Thrace and Asia Minor. The Spartans began the 
war by invading Attica with a large army under 
the command of their king Archidamus. The 
Athenians came into Athens with their movable 
property, abandoning their estates and farms to the 
invading army, and retaliated by making descents 
upon various parts of the Peloponnesus and ravag- 
ing the territory of Megara. The next year (430) 
the Spartans ravaged Attica again. At the same 
time the plague broke out in Athens, and destroyed 
a quarter of the population. Pericles took com- 
mand of a fleet that landed upon several parts of 
the Peloponnesian coast. But on his return he 
found that the public feeling was greatly turned 
against him, and that ambassadors had been sent 
to Sparta to sue for peace, who had, however, been 
dismissed without a hearing. Pericles persuaded 



14 History of Greece to the 

the people to continue the war energetically. The 
next year he died. In the third year of the war 
the Spartans directed the attack upon Plataea. 
This place, after a blockade of two years, was 
obliged to surrender, the garrison was put to the 
sword, and the town destroyed. In the fourth year 
of the war Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, with 
the greater part of the island, revolted. The city 
was finally* surrendered, and it was first voted at 
Athens to destroy the whole male population of 
the town, and to sell into slavery the women and 
children. This vote was however reconsidered, but 
the fortifications of Mytilene were razed and her 
fleet surrendered. 

During the seventh year of the war, (B. C. 425,) 
an Athenian fleet entered the Bay of Pylos in Mes- 
senia, a rude fortification was thrown up, and a 
small force left to garrison it. Immediately the 
Peloponnesian fleet was ordered to the place, and 
the commander took possession of the island of 
Sphacteria that stretched across the bay. While 
they were making preparations to attack the for- 
tress of the little Athenian force, the Athenian fleet 
entered the bay, and after a sharp contest captured 
five Peloponnesian vessels, and the rest were only 
saved by running on shore, where the Lacedaemo- 
nian army protected them. The Athenians then 
blockaded the island of Sphacteria. Messengers 
were sent to Sparta, and the Spartans sought peace, 
which the Athenians would not grant. Cleon, in 
the Athenian assembly, attacking the generals for 
not having taken the island of Sphacteria and the 



Death of Alexander. 15 

Lacedaemonian force, the office of general was 
given to him against his will, and he said that he 
would take Sphacteria within twenty days, and 
either kill all the Lacedaemonians there or bring 
them to Athens as prisoners of war. This boast he 
was enabled by accident to make good, and after a 
battle the Lacedaemonians surrendered and were 
brought to Athens. The Lacedaemonians again 
sought peace, but the Athenians rejected their 
proposals. The next year the Athenians planned 
an expedition against Boeotia, but were defeated 
with heavy loss at the battle of Delium, (in south- 
eastern part of Boeotia.) This was followed by 
the overthrow of the Athenian force in Thrace. 

In 422 Cleon was sent to Macedonia, and was 
killed in a battle in front of Amphipolis, (in the 
south-eastern part of Macedonia near Sinus Stry- 
monicus.) Then a peace was concluded, called 
the peace of Nicias, in 421. Alcibiades became 
very promiuent at Athens. In 418 a victory was 
gained by the Spartans over the Argives near 
Mantinea, (in the eastern part of Arcadia.) The 
Athenians fought on the side of the Argives, but 
yet the peace was not considered broken. 

In 416 the Athenians attacked and conquered 
Melos in the Aegean sea, and when the inhabitants 
surrendered, on the proposal of Alcibiades, all the 
adult males were executed, the women and children 
were sold into slavery, and the island was colonized 
by the Athenians. 

A quarrel having broken out between Egesta and 
Selinus, cities in the western part of Sicily, Selinus 



16 History of Greece to the 

obtained the aid of Syracuse and pressed hard upon 
Egesta. Alcibiades' party brought forward the 
plan, under the guise of protecting Egesta, of 
gaining great influence in. and perhaps of conquer- 
ing Sicily. The Athenians despatched a large fleet 
in the month of July, 415, under Nicias, Alcibiades, 
and Lamachus. After the departure of the expe- 
dition an indictment was preferred against Alcibia- 
des for having profaned the Eleusinian Mysteries, 
and the State trireme was sent to arrest him. He 
made his escape, but though absent was condemned 
to death, and his property was confiscated. 

In Sicily, Nicias besieged Syracuse, and seemed 
on the point of success, when the Spartan com- 
mander Gylippus, landing at Himera, (on the north 
coast of Sicily,) levied an army and marched 
toward Syracuse. Before this Lamachus had been 
killed, and Nicias was in bad health and now asked 
to be recalled. This the Athenians refused, but 
sent a large reinforcement under Demosthenes. 
Still the Athenians suffered reverses, and finally 
determined on departure. The enemy, too, had 
received large reinforcements, and attacked the 
Athenians by land and sea. The fleet of the Athe- 
nians was defeated, and the army undertook a 
retreat by land to the interior of the island. They 
were overtaken, surrounded by superior forces, in 
six days lost three-fourths of their number, and 
finally surrendered, and were sent as prisoners to 
the stone quarries. Many there perished, and the 
rest were sold as slaves. Nicias and Demosthenes 
were put to death, (413.) 



Death of Alexander. 17 

This disastrous result of the Sicilian expedition 
the Athenians surmounted by their enthusiasm and 
energy. Alcibiades was now their enemy, having 
gone to Sparta in flight from his own country. He 
soon, however, forfeited the confidence of the 
Lacedaemonians and was denounced as a traitor, 
but made his escape to Tissaphernes, the Persian 
satrap. Soon he entered into communication with 
the Athenian generals, claiming influence with 
Tissaphernes, and holding out hopes of a Persian 
alliance as the reward for his restoration. But he 
made it a condition that the democracy of Athens 
should be overthrown and an oligarchy established. 
The people, persuaded that this was the only way to 
save the State, voted reluctantly this change in the 
constitution. A supreme council of four hundred 
was chosen, instead of the senate, and they were to 
convene a select body of five thousand citizens, 
whenever they thought best. After four months, 
however, the Four Hundred were deposed, and the 
government was transferred to five thousand citi- 
zens, and this was soon enlarged into universal 
citizenship. Alcibiades was recalled. During this 
(411) and the ensuing year the war was carried on 
principally on the sea, on the coast of Asia Minor, 
and the Athenians gained some important victories. 
Byzantium was captured, and Alcibiades returned 
with glory. In 407 the Spartans under Lysander 
gained a naval victory off Notium, and in conse- 
quence of this Alcibiades was deprived of his com- 
mand, ten new generals being appointed, with 
Conon at their head. The next year the Spartan 
2 



18 History of Greece to the 

fleet under Callicratidas gained a victory at Myti- 
lene; but the Athenians sent additional forces, and 
a great naval victory was gained by the Athenians 
near the Aeginusae islands off Lesbos. A number 
of Athenian vessels having been left in a disabled 
condition after the battle, as a severe storm came 
on, no attempt was made to rescue those who were 
on them, or to collect for burial the bodies of the 
dead : the generals were summoned home for trial 
for this, and six obeyed, and, after a partial trial, 
were illegally condemned to death by one sentence. 
Socrates, who was presiding, refused to put the 
vote in this illegal way, but his opposition was 
disregarded. 

In September, 405, the Spartans under Lysander 
gained a decisive victory at Aegospotami, (inCher- 
sonesus Thracius,) where, through the gross negli- 
gence of the Athenian commanders, nearly the 
whole fleet was captured. Lysander sailed to 
take possession of the Athenian towns, and in 
November arrived at Aegina, and at the same time 
the Peloponnesian army marched into Attica. As 
the city was blockaded by land and water, soon 
a dreadful famine was felt, and the Athenians sub- 
mitted to the terms imposed, that the long walls 
and the fortifications of the Peiraeus should be 
destroyed, the fleet reduced to twelve vessels, that 
all foreign possessions should be given up, and that 
they should become allies of Sparta. 

Under the support of Lysander a committee of 
thirty was chosen to draw up laws for the govern- 
ment of the city and to administer them tempora- 



Death of Alexander. 19 

rily. These soon became known as the Thirty 
Tyrants. A reign of terror ensued. The tyrants 
were supported by a mercenary band of Spartans 
in the Acropolis.. 

Many of the Athenian exiles who had been 
driven or who had lied from the city, found refuge 
in Boeotia; and Thrasybulus, at the head of a small 
force of these, starting from Thebes, seized the 
fortress of Phyle, (in northern part of Attica.) The 
Thirty, with the Lacedaemonian garrison and a 
strong Athenian force, marched to the attack, but 
were repulsed. Soon Thrasybulus marched to the 
Peiraeus, aud when the Thirty attacked him, with- 
drew to the Munychia, drew up his men and com- 
pletely routed the Thirty and their adherents. 
Aided by the party at Sparta opposed to Lysander, 
which was headed by King Pausanias, he effected 
a peaceable revolution, the Thirty were driven out 
after a rule of eight months, and democracy was 
restored, 

In 399 Socrates was put to death on a charge of 
impiety and of being a corrupter of youth. 

The Spartans became involved in a war with the 
Persians. During this, Agesilaus, king of Sparta, 
made a successful invasion into Phrygia, (395,) and 
it seems not improbable that he might have over- 
turned the Persian throne, had not the Persians 
succeeded in arousing a war in Greece against 
Sparta. This (Corinthian War) was waged against 
Sparta by Corinth, Thebes, and Argos, and later 
Athens and Thessaly united with them, (394.) 

The Spartans invaded Boeotia, but were routed 



20 History of Greece to the 

at Haliartus (on southern shore of Lake Copais) 
and Lysancler was killed. The Spartan fleet met 
with a disastrous defeat off Cnidus in Caria, the 
victorious fleet being commanded by Conon. Ages- 
ilaus, in command of the Spartans, won a victory 
in the sharply contested battle of Coronea, (in 
western part of Boeotia. ) 

In 387 this war was concluded by the Peace of 
Antalcidas, imposed upon the Grecian States by 
the Persian king, and accepted by them. By the 
terms of this peace, the cities in Asia Minor, and in 
the islands of Cyprus and Clazomenae (in Smyr- 
naeus Sinus on coast of Lydia) were to belong to 
Persia; Lemnos, Imbros and Scyros were to belong 
to Athens, and all the other cities were to be 
independent. 

Sparta soon endeavored to weaken the power of 
Thebes, and proclaimed the independence of the 
different cities of Boeotia, and organized in them 
governments favorable to herself and hostile to 
Thebes. She soon by treachery got possession of 
Thebes, and Thebes became a member of the Lace- 
daemonian alliance. For three years Thebes was 
held by the Spartan party. Pelopidas, a Theban 
exile, who had, with others, taken refuge at Athens, 
formed a conspiracy that resulted in a complete 
revolution at Thebes, the Lacedaemonian garrison 
capitulating. Athens and Thebes were united, and 
a confederacy of many cities was formed. Epami- 
nondas, the greatest general who had yet risen in 
Greece, was the leader of the Thebans. The Spar- 
tans marched into Boeotia under Agesilaus, but with- 



Death of Alexander. 21 

out being able to effect anything, and in four years 
Thebes expelled the Lacedaemonians from Boeotia, 
and revived the Boeotian confederacy. Athens 
became jealous of the success of Thebes, and opened 
negotiations for peace with Sparta. Thebes was 
excluded from the peace, and a Spartan army imme- 
diately invaded Boeotia, but was defeated with 
great loss by Epaminondas at Leuctra, (southern 
part,) 371. The next year Epaminondas marched 
into Laconia and threatened Sparta, but was re- 
pulsed, and proceeded southward, laying waste the 
valley of the Eurotas. Epaminondas re-established 
the Messenian State, founding on Mount Ithome 
the town of Messene. 

Sparta sent envoys to beg assistance from Athens, 
and an alliance was formed between the two. 
During the next two years the Thebans increased 
in power and influence, and later sent a force into 
Thessaly and Macedonia. In 364 a battle was 
fought on the hills of Cynoscephalae, (east of the 
centre of Thessaly,) in which the Thebans, though 
victorious, lost their general, Pelopidas. A war 
meanwhile had been carried on betwen Elis and 
Arcadia, and the Arcadians becoming divided — a 
part favoring Elis, assisted by Sparta, and a part 
favoring Thebes — Epaminondas in 362 marched 
into the Peloponnesus to support that party of the 
Arcadians which had favored Thebes. The battle 
of Mantinea was fought, in which the Thebans 
gained the victory, but lost their great general 
Epaminondas. With him, the great influence of 
Thebes in the affairs of Greece came to an end. 



22 History of Greece to the 

Philip of Maceclon had in his youth resided as a 
hostage at Thebes, and learned the art of war as 
practiced by Epaminondas. Coming to the throne 
at the age of twenty-three, he manifested great 
abilities. After defeating the Illyrians, he first 
came into a conflict of interest with the Athenians 
on his eastern boundary, and became possessed of 
Amphipolis and Pydna, and captured Potidaea, 
which he gave to the Olynthians, to prevent them 
from joining in alliance with the Athenians. 

In 357, a war, called the Social War, broke out 
between Athens and her allies. The war lasted 
three years, and Athens was obliged to consent to 
a disadvantageous peace, securing the indepen- 
dence of the chief of her allies, in consequence of 
the threat of the Persian king to support the allies. 

A war, called the Sacred War, broke out in 357, 
between Thebes and Phocis. The Thebans pre- 
vailed upon the Amphictyonic council to impose a 
heavy fine upon the Phocians, because they had 
cultivated a portion of the Cirrhaean plain, which 
had been consecrated to the Delphian god to lie 
waste for ever. The Phocians, driven to despera- 
tion, seized upon the temple of Delphi, and war 
broke out. Philip of Macedon assumed the charac- 
ter of champion of the Delphic god, defeated an 
army of the Phocians, became master of Thessaly, 
and marched upon Phocis, but on reaching the 
Pass of Thermomopylae, he found it guarded by a 
strong Athenian force, and retreated. 

Demosthenes, the orator, now began to regard 
Philip as the enemy of the liberties of Greece, 



Death of Alexander. 23 

denounced him as such, and tried to rouse his 
countrymen against him. Olynthus, in the Chalci- 
dian peninsula, (in south-eastern part of Macedonia,) 
was at the head of a confederacy of thirty-two 
towns. In 350 Philip captured one of these towns, 
and Olynthus sent to Athens for assistance. De- 
mosthenes strongly urged that energetic measures 
should be taken, but was opposed by Phocion 
and others. In 347 Olynthus was taken, and the 
whole of the peninsula became a province of Mace- 
donia. 

The affairs of Athens now came into such danger, 
that they accepted advances from Philip and agreed 
to terms of peace. Then Philip marched through 
Thermopylae and entered Phocis. This surren- 
dered, and he occupied Delphi, and called upon 
the Amphictyons to pronounce sentence upon those 
who had been guilty of sacrilege. They decreed 
that all the cities of Phocis except Abae should be 
destroyed. This result of the Sacred War made 
Philip the leading power in Greece, and he now 
prepared an attack upon the Athenian colonies and 
upon the Persian empire. 

In the spring of 342 he set out on an expedition 
against Thrace. War was declared against him 
by the Athenians, and a fleet sent out for the relief 
of Byzantium. Philip was compelled to abandon 
his attempt and to evacuate the Chersonesus. 
Amphissa (in the eastern part of Ozolian Locris) 
was declared by the Amphictyonic council guilty of 
sacrilege, and Philip was appointed general to 
inflict punishment on the inhabitants. 



24 History of Greece to the 

In 338 he inarched south, but instead of going in 
the direction of Amphissa, he suddenly seized 
Elataea, the chief place in eastern Phocis. Great 
alarm spread to Athens. The Thebans and Athe- 
nians marched out against Philip, and a decisive 
battle was fought in the plain of Cheronea, in the 
north-western part of Boeotia, B. C. 338. This 
was a complete victory for Philip, and made 
Greece dependent in reality upon Macedonia. 
Philip treated Athens with great clemency, but 
Thebes with severity. A congress of the States of 
Greece now assembled at Corinth, and war was 
declared against Persia, and Philip was made 
commander. 

In the spring of 336 he sent some forces into 
Asia, but was himself assassinated at his daughter's 
marriage festival in the forty-seventh year of his 
age. His son Alexander was then in his twentieth 
year. On coming to the throne, he announced his 
intention of following out his father's plans. The 
affairs of Greece were temporarily unsettled, in the 
hope on the part of many of throwing off the 
Macedonian yoke, now that the power had passed 
into the hands of so young a man. But the 
activity of Alexander settled all these beginnings 
of revolt, and at a general congress assembled at 
Corinth, he was appointed commander of the war 
against Persia. 

During an absence on an expedition against the 
Thracians, Triballians, and Illyrians, a rumor was 
circulated that he was dead. The Thebans invited 
the other States to declare their independence, and 



Death of Alexander. 25 

besieged the Macedonian garrison in their citadel. 
Alexander, by his activity, crushed this attempt at 
revolution, in a battle, slaying many thousand 
Thebans, destroying the city, and selling the 
inhabitants as slaves. 

In the spring of 334 Alexander crossed the 
Hellespont at the head of an army of about thirty- 
five thousand men. On the river Granicus (in 
northern part of Mysia) he gained his first victory. 
He then marched south to Sardis, which surren- 
dered, and to Ephesus, (south-western part of 
Lydia,) which also fell without resistance into his 
hands. He then took Miletus and Halicarnassus, 
(both in the western part of Caria.) At Issos 
(near the borders of Cilicia and Syria) he defeated 
the Persian king, Darius, in 333. Pie then besieged 
and took Tyre. Egypt submitted to him, and he 
founded the city of Alexandria. In 331 he again 
defeated Darius at the great battle of Arbela or 
Guagamela, (in Assyria,) and Darius was soon 
after murdered by his own officers. 

Alexander now considered himself king of Persia, 
and spent three years in conquering the northern 
provinces of the Persian empire, and founding- 
cities. In 327 he advanced into India, proceeding 
with little resistance as far as the river Hydaspes. 
Here he defeated and took prisoner Porus, a power- 
ful Indian king, but restored him to his dominions, 
and even enlarged his power. He continued his 
victorious march as far as the river Hyphasis, (a 
branch of the Indus,) but his soldiers refused to 
follow him any farther. 
- 3 



26 History of Greece to the Death of Alexander. 

In 324 he entered Babylon, where ambassadors 
from the greater part of the known world came to 
pay homage to him. Fullof projects of ambition, 
he was in the midst of preparations for the con- 
quest of Arabia, when he was seized with a fever, 
which, in eleven days, terminated his life at the 
age of thirty-two, in the year 323. 



APPENDIX. 



Miltiades, the victor of Marathon, was a man of the 
greatest energy and ability, but grossly abused the confi- 
dence of the people after his victory. 

Themistocles, leader of the democratical party at Athens, 
had extraordinary abilities, which he used for the public 
service in raising Athens to the position of the first mari- 
time and commercial State in Greece, by the equipment of 
her fleet and by the fortification of Athens and the Piraeus, 
and for the salvation of Greece in the victory at Salamis. 
He, however, offended the Athenians by his ostentation 
and vanity, accepted large presents or bribes from cities 
on the Greek islands, was accused of treasonable corres- 
pondence with Persia, fled to Argos, thence to Corcyra, 
(modern Corfu,) and thence to Persia, where the king. 
Artaxerxes, to whom he offered plans for the subjugation 
of Greece, treated him with the greatest liberality. He 
died at Magnesia, (in north-western part of Caria,) at the 
age of 65. 

Aristides, rival of Themistocles, was leader of the con- 
servative party at Athens. He was a man of the utmost 
uprightness, justice, and integrity, was true to his country, 
and was of great service to her, especially in establishing 
the Confederacy of Delos. 

Pausanias, the victor atPlataeaand captor of Byzantium, 
overcome by pride and ambition, traitorously offered to 
marry the daughter of Xerxes, and to bring Sparta and the 
rest of Greece under his dominion. He adopted the Persian 
dress and manners, enraged the allies by his haughtiness 



28 History of Greece to the 

and insolence, was recalled by Sparta, and finally his guilt 
was detected, and he fled for refuge to a temple, where 
he was starved, being only carried from the temple when 
on the point of death, that he might not pollute it with his 
corpse. 

Cimon, son of Miltiades, and the leader of the conserva 
tive party at Athens, after the death of Aristides, "was 
generous, affable, magnificent ; and, notwithstanding his 
views, of exceedingly popular manners. He had inherited 
the military genius of his father, and was undoubtedly the 
greatest commander of his time. He employed the vast 
wealth acquired in his expeditions in adorning Athens and 
gratifying his fellow-citizens." 

Pericles was a great statesman, of highest intellectual 
superiority, as shown by his enormous influence over the 
Athenians for so long a time. He was a man of wonderful 
eloquence, of the greatest taste and utmost liberality in 
literature and art. He was devoted constantly and disin- 
terestedly to what he believed to be the interests of his 
State. 

Alcibiades, an Athenian of highest birth, was rich, hand- 
some, profligate, reckless, capricious, and brilliant. " He 
was utterly destitute of morality, whether public or private." 
He was selfish and unscrupulous to the last degree, patriotic 
only as it served his own purposes, and apparently almost 
equally willing to serve with or against his country. He 
finally perished miserably in Phrygia, in a night attack 
upon his house, his death having been ordered by Sparta. 

Lysander was a man of remarkable ability and energy. 
He was the son of poor parents, of Lacedaemonian not of 
Spartan descent. "His ambition was boundless, and he 
was wholly unscrupulous about the means which he em- 
ployed to gratify it. In pursuit of his object, he hesitated 
at neither deceit, nor perjury, nor cruelty." 

Agesilaus, king of Sparta, was " esteemed a model of 
those virtues more peculiarly deemed Spartan. He was 



Death of Alexander. 29 

obedient to the constituted authorities, emulous to excel, 
courageous, energetic, capable of bearing all sorts of hard- 
ship and fatigue, simple and frugal in his mode of life.'' 
He was prudent and politic in his conduct, an able general 
and of indomitable energy and perseverance. 

Pelopidas, the Theban, was a man of " disinterested 
patriotism and ardent character." He had a warm heart, 
and was devotedly attached to Epaminondas, who had 
saved his life in battle. He fell, fighting with desperate 
bravery at Cynoscephalae, in the midst of the ranks of the 
enemy. 

Epaminondas was the greatest general of Greece before 
Alexander, and one of the greatest men of antiquity. He 
" possessed all the best qualities of his nation, without 
that heaviness, either of body or of mind, which charac- 
terized the Theban people." He had a cultivated mind 
and was gifted with unusual eloquence. He was discreet, 
honest, courageous, ardently patriotic, disinterested, hu- 
mane, and firm. His method of warfare was of concen- 
trating heavy masses on a particular point of his enemy's 
line. 

The Archons, as first established at Athens, were nine in 
number, the first called The Archon, and by his name the 
year was distinguished ; the second was called The Basileus, 
because he represented the king as high priest of the 
nation ; the third was called the Poiemarch, and was for 
many years the commander of the troops; the other six 
were called Thesmothetae or Legislators, their duties being 
mainly judicial. 

Draco was appointed at Athens in 624 to draw up a writ- 
ten code of laws. By this code all crimes were punished 
by death. 

Greek Colonies. The Greeks had a vast number of colo- 
nies on the western shores of Asia Minor and the adjoining 
islands; in Italy, especially in Southern Italy, which re- 
ceived the name of Magna Graecia; in Sicily, where there 
was a succession of nourishing cities, of which Syracuse 



30 History of Greece to the Death of Alexander. 

and Agrigentum were the most powerful; in Gaul, the 
most noted of which was Massilia, .(modern Marseilles;) in 
Africa; on the eastern shore of the Ionian Sea, in Epirus 
and its neighborhood, of which the island of Corcyra 
(modern Corfu) was the most powerful; in Macedonia and 
Thrace. 

The Kings of Persia. Cyrus the Great conquered the 
Medes and came to the throne B. C. 559. A few years 
afterwards he attacked the Lydians, captured Sardis, and 
deprived Croesus of his kingdom. This was followed by 
the capture of the Greek cities in Asia Minor, and they all 
became subject to Persia. 

Cambyses, his son, reigned from 529 to 521. 

Darius, the third king of Persia, reigned from 521-485. 
During his reign occurred the Ionian revolt, and he ordered 
the first expedition to Greece which met with such disasters 
off Mount Athos, and sent the second under Datis and 
Artaphernes, which was defeated at Marathon. 

Xerxes, son of Darius, reigned from 485 to 464. He 
marshalled the third expedition, so thoroughly defeated. 

The Sicilian Greeks. In 405 Dionysius made himself 
master of Syracuse, and had a long reign as despot or 
tyrant. He was a patron of literature and philosophy. He 
died in 367, and was succeeded by his son, the younger 
Dionysius. Diuing the absence of Dionysius on an expe- 
dition to the coasts of Italy, Dion, previously banished 
from Sicily, came with a small force to Syracuse, the 
inhabitants of which city joyously welcomed him. His 
earliest acts were however unpopular, and he was assassi- 
nated by Callippus of Athens, who seized the power, which 
he was able to retain for no more than a twelvemonth. 
After a short period of anarchy, Dionysius by treachery 
again made himself master of the city, but the Corinthians 
sent an expedition under Timoleon for the relief of Syra- 
cuse. Dionysius surrendered, and was allowed to spend 
the rest of his life in Corinth. 



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